good. It is scarcely necessary to say that his father bought the work. The parcel was made up, put into the carriage, and they drove on. As soon as they were out of the noisy streets, Harry and Lucy seized again upon this book, eager to know if there was any thing more in it about Mr. Watt. They found an account of his powers of pleasing in conversation, and of his great variety of knowledge. This struck Harry with fresh admiration. "How I wish papa had known him!" cried Lucy. "Oh, Harry! if you had but seen him! Should not you have liked much?" it very "I should not have cared for merely seeing him," said Harry, "unless I could have heard him and known him." They now began to question each other, which of all the great people, of whom they had ever heard or read, they should most wish to have seen and known? And then, which they should have liked only just to see? which to have for acquaint ance? which for friends? and which they should like to live with always? These questions brought on a great deal of interesting and diverting discussion, during which papa and mamma were often appealed to, and in which they took their share, much to Harry and Lucy's delight. The number of those with whom they should choose to live, which at first was prodigious, on Lucy's part especially, was gradually reduced, till at last it came down to very few indeed not above five or six. It was observed, that Harry, who, in former times, desired to see only great mechanics, now desired to know great chemists too, and all sorts of sensible and inventing people, as he said. This was one good consequence, as Lucy remarked, of their having lately travelled so much. "But to-morrow, Harry," continued she, "is to be the last day's travelling. Are you glad or sorry, Harry? I do not know which I am myself; partly glad, partly sorry I feel. Sorry that the journey will be at an end, because I like travelling very much, and seeing every day some new and entertaining things and people. But I shall be glad for one great reason to come to the end of our journey, that we may see the cottage by the sea-side. I long to know what sort of a looking cottage it is. Do not you, Harry?" 66 "Yes," said Harry; "but above all I wish to sea the ocean." "And the sea shore," cried Lucy, "where I may pick up hundreds of shells!" "And I hope I shall see ships!" said Harry. "And a boat with sails, in which we may sail sometimes," said Lucy. "Yes, I should like that very much," said Harry. "I want to know more about sails." "Shoulder of mutton sails especially," cried Lucy; "which I remember reading about in Robinson Crusoe. I wonder what they are?" Her father sketched for her a shoulder of mutton sail, and she was rather disappointed when she learned, that the name arose merely from the shape. The conversation was interrupted by the sight of a boat on a river; but it had no sails it was a ferry boat. At Harry and Lucy's age it was a real pleasure to cross a ferry, though to travellers, more advanced in years, it may sometimes be a pain, or at least a trouble. They are apt to prefer a bridge. END OF VOL. II. LONDON: PRINTED BY CHARLES WOOD, |